Before we go any further, before you think there’s Mr. Personality reacting like he always does, understand this: Richt was asked numerous times this week—in various forms of questions designed to get a response—about how this game will be an indicator of his career in Athens.

Each time, he gave the same boring, measured response. That leaves others to speak for him.

“This will not be the same Georgia team in this game,” said one SEC coach.

It better not—or the Bulldogs will have blown their biggest chance in more than three decades to finally break through.

College football, unlike the NFL, revolves around the coach. Teams are a reflection of their coach, and more times than not, their performance mirrors the coach’s personality.

Richt is one of the true gentlemen of the game; by all accounts an outstanding citizen who genuinely cares about players and winning the right way. The problem is, that stoic, sometimes staid personality rubs off on his teams.

These things aren’t anomalies; they’re trends. We’ve seen it over and over with Georgia under Richt—unless, that is, Georgia is motivated.

Unless someone or something triggers Richt and things drastically change. We saw it in 2007 against rival Florida when Richt told his entire team that he wanted them celebrating in the end zone on Georgia’s first touchdown. The Dawgs then won for only the third time in 18 years in the series.

We saw it earlier this year when Georgia safety Shawn Williams publicly called out his teammates before the Florida game, and Richt, instead of punishing Williams or downplaying the criticism, piled on.

We see a common thread here: Richt gets angry, Georgia wins. It’s as simple as see ball, get ball.

“Any team is more focused when there’s some motivation; when there’s something more to play for,” Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray said after the Florida game.

You want something to play for? How about your first SEC title since 2005? How about the chance to win and advance to the BCS National Championship Game against Notre Dame, and be the next SEC team to try and extend the league’s dominance in the biggest game of all?

Maybe that’s why Murray, one of the more media-friendly players in the SEC, asked out of media obligations this week. Maybe that’s why Richt repeated the same, boring response over and over this week when asked about the enormity of the game and his place in it—and in Georgia history.

Just like any other game, Richt said. Just like any other game, his players insisted this week.

“We can only control what we’ve got,” said Georgia All-American linebacker Jarvis Jones.

I’m not buying it. Here’s a Georgia team that, since beating Florida in a turnover-filled game, has given up 34 points over the last four games. A team that, with freshmen tailback Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall grinding out tough yards and Murray making big plays in the passing game, can score in bunches on anyone.

A team that still remembers the 32-point loss to LSU in last year’s SEC championship game. A team that knows its history and personality and how you simply can’t turn it on and off—especially against an Alabama program that chews up and spits out big games.

“We understand the weight this game holds,” Jones said.

And like it or not—fair or not—it’s all on Richt’s shoulders.

Because if Georgia has any hope of shedding its cool customer image, of finding an inner fire only seen a handful of times—at best—in 12 years under Richt, it is now. Beating Alabama in the SEC championship game Saturday not only puts the Bulldogs on top of the SEC, it moves the program to the rare moment not seen since the days of Vince and Herschel and Run Lindsay Run.

In the more than three decades since the Bulldogs last won a national championship, five SEC teams have won national titles: Alabama (three), Florida (three), LSU (two), Tennessee (one) and Auburn (one).

Georgia, with all the advantages (and sometimes, more) of all those other schools, hasn’t come close since the early 1980s.

“It’s not about me, it’s about Georgia,” Richt said. “But it is great to be in this position at this point. You fight like mad every year to get your team in a position like this.”